Ah, yes – Minkee!!! It’s that luxurious fabric that you just love to rub your hand over and over again! It feels so good that you can’t resist purchasing it! But reality sets in when you start to cut the fabric and stitching with it! Suddenly your great love affair with this fabric is diminishing very quickly! Not only does it create a blizzard of lint and fuzz everywhere when you start chopping it into pieces, but it moves and slides around all over the place the moment it is in your sewing machine.

What do you do with the wonderful-feeling fabric that you are beginning to hate? Here are some tips that might help you keep your sanity and renew your love of the fabric and the reason why you bought it in the first place!!

Pay attention to the nap! Minkee is a napped fabric, so the fibers will lay down in one direction and it will feel and look different. So as you are cutting, be sure your pieces are going the direction that you want them to. Just run your hand across the fabric to feel the direction of the nap.

Add more for seam allowances! If you are using a pattern that is not specifically made for minkee, then you may want to add to the seam allowance. Stitching a 1/4″ seam in minkee fabric is nearly impossible, so add extra for a 1/2″ or 3/4″ seam.

Cut out all the pieces at once! Cut out everything you need to and then wipe down your cutting mat, rotary cutter, scissors and anything else you used with the minkee with a wet paper towel to catch the extra lint. Oh, btw…this is NOT a time to have a ceiling fan on. Trust me on this – previous experience (not a good one!).

Use pins, pins and more pins! That’s right – what would we do without good ol’ straight pins?! This is where you need to use them! Pin your fabrics together so your pins are 1-2 inches apart. Yes, it does take a little more work, but it is worth it when you are stitching that seam.

Sew next to the feed dogs! If you are mixing minkee fabric with cotton fabrics, sew your seam with the minkee fabric next to the feed dogs. This will help the minkee to feed through along with the cotton.

Wash the cotton fabric! If you are using cottons and minkee, be sure to pre-wash your cotton fabrics. Minkee does not shrink, but cotton will, so if you wash the entire project after it’s complete, your cotton pieces could end up smaller than the minkee ones.

Lengthen your stitch length! Since this is a napped fabric with some bulk to it, it’s a good idea to lengthen your stitch. I usually sew with a stitch length of 3-4 mm. If I’m top stitching on Hankie Blankie Pets, I use a stitch length of 4. Make a test stitch to see what works on the minkee fabric you are using.

Use a walking foot! Put on that walking foot and put it to good use! This will be your greatest help in sewing minkee fabric. The walking foot will help to feed the top layer while the feed dogs feed the bottom layer through the machine, creating an easy-to-stitch seam.

Serge the edges! If the minkee lint is seemingly out of control, serge the edges or stitch a zigzag stitch on your machine. This will help to control the lint and fuzz that flies around as you are working with the fabric.

Stabilizer topping is a must! If you are embroidering on minkee fabric (Yes, you can do that!), you need to use a clear water soluble or heat soluble topping to keep the stitches from sinking into the pile fabric. Lightly pin a piece of clear topping to the right side of the fabric after it is in the hoop.

Do not hoop minkee fabric! You will create a hoop mark or burn if you try hooping minkee fabric to embroider on it. Hoop the stabilizer (tearaway if the design is not too dense or cutaway for dense designs), spray it with 505 Spray Adhesive and the stick the minkee fabric to the stabilizer.

Make your binding wider! If you are using a binding with minkee fabric, make it wider to account for the lush fabric pile. Instead of 2″ or 2 1/2″ wide, try a 3″ wide binding.

Only use steam! You do not want to press or iron minkee fabric to compact the lush pile it holds. Either use steam or gently press with a press cloth over the minkee.

What can you do with minkee fabric? The options are limitless, but I love to create Hankie Blankie Pets with this luxurious fabric! They are so sweet and perfect to give as gifts and little ones love the feel of these little animals. I usually personalize it with a name on the front corner. Here’s just a few I’ve stitched:

Just look at those floppy puppy ears!

Cute little pink kitty whiskers!

These are so soft and cuddly!

On the three pets above, I used the original pet pattern here, but also take a peek at the New Friends pattern and At the Zoo pattern for other cute pet variations!

Can’t find minkee fabric in your local area? Try here!

Fiber Etch – have you ever used this etching gel? I have several times and taught a couple of classes using it several years ago, but it’s been a while since I’ve picked up my bottle. If you’ve never heard of it, it is a gel that etched out plant fiber fabrics such as cotton, linen and rayon. It will not etch polyester, wool or silk, so you can create designs by using different fabrics and etching whatever design or motif you want.

www.embroideryonline.com Design NZ369

Basically what I’ve done with it is cutwork like the embroidery design above. I’ve stitched an open cutwork design with polyester thread on a rayon fabric, applied the fiber etch to the area of fabric inside the stitching, heated it with an iron and the fabric inside the stitching darkens and just falls out.

If you’ve ever done cutwork, usually you stitch the design and then take a little itty bitty pair of scissors and cut out the fabric inside. What a headache! It’s tough to cut out the fabric without clipping the threads plus getting a smooth clean finish without those little thread ends sticking out. Just look at the tulip and imagine trying to cut out all the fabric without snipping the threads?!?!

When using the Fiber Etch, the fabric just falls out inside and there is a smooth clean finish on the edge of the thread. It’s great to use and I’ve gotten out of the habit of using it, so this was a good reminder to get it out and create something with it.

What was neat was seeing how Dana (Dana Marie Designs) used the Fiber Etch here at the Sew Expo. She does use it for cutwork with embroidery, but she also showed some pieces using silk/rayon velvet. Trace a pattern such as a simple outlined leaf on the fabric. Just run a line of Fiber Etch following the pattern. Heat it and brush away the fibers. The rayon pile of velvet is etched away and the silk background remains. Just too neat!!!

I actually have some silk chiffon that I was planning on making a skirt out of at some point and doing cutwork around the edge of the hem, but I may dig around in my stash and see if I have a plant fiber fabric that I can do the same thing and use the Fiber Etch. I’m sure I have something!

The great thing with using the Fiber Etch is that you can etch out the top fabric and put another fabric behind it to show through as a different color. Make a very easy project look like it took hours to do! :)

There’s some other projects swirling around in my head in which I could use the Fiber Etch and create some neat things, so I just need to get that bottle out in my line of sight and make a note to do something.

Here’s a quick fabric grainline wrap-up:

The length of the fabric is called the lengthwise grain which are the warp threads that are long threads secured to the loom. The continuous yardage off the bolt is the length of the fabric.

The width of the fabric is called the crosswise grain which are the weft threads that are woven back and forth across the warp threads to create the fabric. The fabric width is from selvedge to selvedge.

Both the lengthwise and crosswise grains are straight of grain verses the bias grainline, which is a 45 degree angle from the straight of grains.

Many times we determine how we cut these pieces for our quilts by how large of a piece of fabric we have to use. But consider this: the lengthwise grain has very little to no stretch compared to the fabric width.

Your quilt sashing, borders and binding holds your quilt together and helps to keep the quilt even on all sides and squared up as it should be. Many quilt blocks contain bias and straight edges that need sashing or a border to give the edges support and keep the block square.

If the sashing or border has some stretch to it, the block is not getting that support it needs. It may not always be possible, but always try to cut your quilt sashes, borders and binding on the lengthwise grain. This will keep your quilt squared up and closer to the measurement it should be.

Give it a try and see for your self: Cut two, 2″ wide by 6″ wide strips of fabric; one on the lengthwise grain and one on the crosswise grain and see which one has more stretch to it. You’ll be amazed at the difference!

Clip thread jumps close to the stitching on the TOP of your embroidery design. Clip those jump threads after each color change. This will keep your design neater so the jump threads are not covered with more stitches. It is much easier to clip the threads every time you change thread colors than having to pick out the tails after the design is complete.

If you have a jump stitch of bobbin thread on the BACK that is big enough in which to catch a finger or fingernail, cut it in half. If you can’t catch a finger or other item, the jump should remain in-tact. DO NOT cut close to the stitching. A ¼ inch or more of bobbin thread should always remain. This alleviates any threat of cutting out those valuable lock stitches. Avoid cutting the bobbin thread too close; you may have raveling threads on the top of your design.

Happy clipping!

It has happened to me and I’m sure it has happened to you also. You have your quilting ruler or template in just the right place, your rotary cutter is halfway down the length of the ruler and your ruler moves! It’s one of the most frustrating things that can happen and can have results that make you end of cutting another piece.

What’s the solution? Try using scotch tape! Tear off a piece of scotch tape, double it over so it is sticky on both sides and place it on the underneath side of your ruler. Put several pieces of tape in different places under the ruler. Place the ruler on your fabric where you will need to be cutting. If you need to reposition, just lift the ruler and place it down again. You are ready to cut!

Sticking tape to the back of plastic templates also works very well. If you have a template placed on the fabric and then a ruler on top of the template to make the cut, the ruler and template tend to want to slide against each other. Just put on a couple of pieces of scotch tape, attaching the template to the fabric and the ruler to the template. Your sliding problem will just disappear!

You should be able to reuse the scotch tape on your ruler or template several times before the tape needs to be replaced. On some fabrics scotch tape can leave a small residue mark, so try using blue painters tape instead. Blue painters tape is just like masking tape, but does not leave a residue mark and is blue in color.

Give it a try and see if it works for you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do quilting rulers and brands of quilting rulers have you confused? Take a peek at my favorite rulers and why I love using them!

See how you can make your own plastic template and still use a rotary cutter to cut your fabric!

Quilting rulers are great for cutting quilt pieces, blocks and borders. From itty, bitty, tiny quilt triangles to long, wide borders, quilt rulers are a must! Throw in a cutting mat and rotary cutter and you are all set to go. It is so quick and easy to set your ruler down on the correct measurement, run your rotary cutter up against it and your fabric is cut. So much quicker than marking it and cutting with a pair of scissors!

Rules are available in all shapes and sizes for cutting all kinds of fabric triangles, squares and borders. But there is not the exact size ruler for every single quilt piece or block in any size. Many times a ruler can be turned this way and that to make it cut the piece you need, but having the actual size you need to cut is very helpful.

That is when you need to create your own template. I love to use clear plastic template sheets and cut them to the exact size I need them to be. The sheets are semi-clear which allows you to see through to the fabric you are cutting. You can easily cut the template sheets with a pair of scissors into the shape you need. Plus you can also write on the plastic with an ink pen which allows you to mark lines and label each piece.

For the current quilt blocks I am working on, I needed a square ruler measuring 14 1/2″ x 14 1/2″ to cut my blocks down to size. Omnigrid, my favorite brand of quilting rulers, does not make a 14 1/2″ square ruler. They make a 15 1/2″ square, which I could use, but not a 14 1/2″.

But I can make my own template that is the exact 14 1/2″ I need using plastic template sheets! The template sheets are 14″ x 20″, but I can tape two sheets together for a larger size. Using my rotary cutter and cutting mat, I can then cut the template plastic down to 14 1/2″. I will draw horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines on the template. This marks the center of the template and helps for placement when cutting down the blocks.

A rotary cutter will cut though the template, so I have to use it with a quilting ruler when I’m cutting the blocks. All I have to do is lay the template square on the block and center it where it I would like it. Pick up my quilting ruler, line it up against one side of the template and use my rotary cutter to cut off the excess fabric. The rotary cutter is cutting against the ruler, so it will not cut into the plastic. I can continue to cut the other three sides.

Yes, I could use the 15 1/2″ square ruler and cut my blocks down to 14 1/2″. But it is much easier to have an exact 14 1/2″ square, center it over the block and trim off the excess fabric. Why? I am trying to keep the quilt design in the center of the block, still centered in the block after it is cut down to size. When I have the correct size placed on top the block, I can easily measure the distance from the embroidery center to the template edge.

If I am only needing to cut one block, I would just use the 15 1/2″ square, but since I will be cutting multiple blocks, it is much easier and saves time to make a template and use that to cut down the blocks. When you are needing a different or unusual size that the ruler you have, try creating your own template using template plastic and see how it works for you! I have multiple sizes of blocks made from template plastic and use them over and over!

There are hundreds of quilting rulers in all shapes and sizes with many different manufactors! If you are just getting started quilting or even if you have been quilting for a while, all the rulers, sizes and brands can get so confusing! Which brand is the best? Can you use several kinds of rulers in the same project? How can you pick the best one to use?

There are many brands of rulers available, but there a few major ones that sell the most popular and common sizes – Omnigrid, Olfa, Nifty Notions, Quilter’s Rule, Creative Grid and ClearView. These companies have rulers available in square, rectangle, triangle and specialty shapes.

What you need to look for in a ruler is accuracy and precision with each cut you make. If you have a ruler that is a 1/32 off of a measurement, that will multiple with each piece or block that you cut and stitch. On large blocks or pieces, that may not be such an issue. But with small pieces that are repeated over and over, that 1/32 will add up quickly and make your fabric pieces harder to match and piece together as you are stitching.

I have found that I prefer Omnigrid and believe that it tends to be the most accurate in its measurements and sizes. I not only like the accuracy they provide, but also enjoy the 30, 45 & 60 degree marked lines for cutting miters and angled pieces. Their rulers provide clearly marked lines and are easy to use. I have used several other brands and while they are great rulers also, I usually find myself going back to Omnigrid.

No matter what brand of ruler you are using, the most important thing you can do it use the same brand or ruler throughout your project! You are more likely to find inconsistencies in your blocks if you alternate brands of rulers on the same project. I may need a larger ruler to cut 12 1/2″ squares, but also a smaller ruler to cut 3″ x 12 1/2″ strips. I may switch from a 12 1/2″ square ruler to a 3″ x 18″ rectangle ruler, but they will both be Omnigrid.

Another reason I prefer Omnigrid rulers is for the selection and variety in rulers they make. I can switch rulers throughout my project, knowing that I am not losing accuracy in the pieces I am cutting. No matter what brand you have or what brand you like, stick with the same one throughout your project.

You will find everyone has a personal preference in quilting rulers. You will too, so try cutting with several brands and see what is the easiest for you to use. You want a ruler that you will be able to pick up and use with just a glance at it. I would recommend that you stick with one of the major brands that carry multiple sizes and shapes, so you can easily switch rulers and not have to fear changing rulers and getting mismatched blocks.